April 9, 2025 • 49 mins
The rich and storied tradition of challenge coins has made its way from military culture into bourbon communities, creating meaningful connections among enthusiasts and marking achievements in the whiskey world.
• Challenge coins originated with WWI pilots but became popular during Vietnam War
• Different types of bourbon challenge coins include Stave & Thief Bourbon Steward certification, Kentucky Bourbon Festival commemorative coins, and community recognition coins
• Coins must be carried at all times - you get only four steps to retrieve it during a challenge
• If challenged and you can't produce your coin, you buy drinks; if everyone has their coin, the challenger buys
• Bourbon Real Talk uses different colored coins to recognize various levels of community contribution
• Kentucky Bourbon Festival coins evolve each year, from bronze 30th anniversary to gold 2024 edition
• Challenge coins typically cannot be purchased - they must be earned through contribution or certification
• Carrying a challenge coin signifies membership and honors the tradition of bourbon camaraderie
Join us Thursday night with Kentucky Bourbon Festival President Randy Prass to learn everything about this year's festival. Tickets go on sale April 16th for pre-sale and April 17th to the general public
.
The humble challenge coin carries a weighty legacy that stretches from World War I battlefields to today's bourbon tasting rooms. This episode dives deep into these tokens of honor and belonging that have become an integral part of bourbon culture.
Challenge coins began with a wealthy lieutenant who gave medallions to his unit members. Legend tells how one such coin saved a pilot's life when he was captured behind enemy lines, unable to prove his identity except through this small token. The tradition evolved through the Vietnam War and eventually found a spiritual home among whiskey enthusiasts who recognized the perfect symmetry between military camaraderie and the fellowship of shared bourbon experiences.
For bourbon lovers, these coins serve multiple purposes. Some mark achievements, like the coveted Stave & Thief Society's Executive Bourbon Steward certification coin. Others commemorate events, like the annually changing Kentucky Bourbon Festival coins that evolve in design and finish. Communities like Bourbon Real Talk have created elaborate hierarchies of colored coins to recognize different levels of contribution, from first-time helpers to consistent top contributors.
What makes these coins special isn't just their appearance but the traditions surrounding them. The twelve rules of challenge coin etiquette transform them from mere collectibles into social catalysts. You must keep your coin within four steps at all times. When challenged, failure to produce your coin means buying drinks. If everyone shows their coin, the challenger pays up. These exchanges create spontaneous moments of connection among bourbon enthusiasts in an increasingly digital world.
Whether displayed proudly on a shelf or carried faithfully in a special wallet pouch, bourbon challenge coins represent something deeper than their metal composition suggests—they're physical reminders of shared experiences, hard-earned knowledge, and community belonging. Have you earned your place in bourbon culture with a challenge coin yet? The tradition awaits.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Middle West Spirits was founded in 2008, focusing on
elevating the distinct flavorsof the Ohio River Valley.
Their spirits honor their rootsand reflect their originality
as makers, their integrity asproducers, and their the start
to the bottle, to your glass,with unique weeded and rye
(00:28):
bourbons, and also rye and wheatwhiskeys.
The Michelon brand is easy tosip.
It might be a grain-to-glassexperience, but I like to think
of it as uncut and unfilteredfrom their family to yours.
What, all right?
(00:52):
We'll be right back all right,welcome back to another podcast
(02:04):
of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys.
Tiny here tonight I might beswitching the camera for YouTube
.
It's just me on Facebook,obviously, because I got set up
two microphones and CT said hewas going to do everything he
possibly could to come to youknow, make it here tonight.
But obviously he might join usa little bit later.
(02:26):
But tonight's podcast is aboutchallenge coins and I have a
bunch of them here, a couplehere.
I got it all.
I'm going to go into thehistory of it.
So CT hasn't come, but we'vegot El Presidente.
On Randy Prass, who will be onon Thursday night, I want to
(02:47):
tell everybody everything thatyou need to know about this
year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
If you have questions, randy'sgoing to be there, we're going
to do it.
But also he has issued manycoins.
Now I don't think they'reactually they're not.
The challenge doesn't go withthem.
But I was thinking that youknow us people who attend the
(03:09):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
We might come up with achallenge for the coin for the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
But there's other coins andfestival or other things that I,
you know, coins that I havethat I use the challenge.
I've learned a lot about it too.
So tonight I will be going overthe history, I will go over the
etiquette and then also someother specific things about the
(03:32):
challenge coin that I just gotand the different ways clubs can
do it and whatnot.
But I will go through that.
But rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
all things scotchie bourbon boysuh, we've got glenn's.
We've got t-shirts.
This scotchie bourbon boys,glenn karens, talk to me.
(03:52):
You know you're interested inone.
Let me know, I will ship it toyou direct.
Same thing with t-shirts.
I mean, who doesn't want this?
I mean I, I love the sc ScotchyBourbon Boys t-shirts and I
just buried the microphone thereand so check that out.
You can check it out on thewebsite or contact me direct
Facebook, youtube.
Just let me know and I will getyou hooked up with that.
(04:15):
All right, we are also on allthe social media.
We're on Facebook, instagram,youtube and X, and then we're
also on all the major podcastformats Apple, iheart, spotify,
anyone that you listen to.
We're there.
But just remember, no matterwhere you listen or watch, make
sure you comment, like,subscribe, leave good feedback.
(04:40):
We greatly appreciate all thatyou guys do and we are
monitoring on YouTube andFacebook the comments tonight.
That's great.
Let's see, we've got AlonzoMartinez from Texas and he's
asked me why do I do what I do?
I do it because I just love thepeople, all the people, and the
(05:04):
friends that I've made throughthe whiskeys and the bourbons.
It just keeps you going andit's something to do.
It's something I want to doonce I'm done with my nine to
five job.
So there you go.
There's the question off ofYouTube tonight and that gets us
going.
That's going to get us going,us going.
That's going to get us going.
First off, the first everchallenge coin I got before I
(05:35):
even knew me and SuperNashcompleted the Moonshine
University's Staven ThiefBourbon Steward program.
And there was two there was anexecutive bourbon, there was a
bourbon steward and an executivebourbon steward.
The first time that we did it,we did it with Macaulay Minton
and Patrick Heiss at WildernessTrail.
They had a special one that wedid when we're down for the
(05:56):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival, met alot of people, but we did that
one and you get a little pin mypins upstairs in a hat because,
anyways, this way I won't loseit.
And then, after you finish theexecutive bourbon steward class,
which is at MoonshineUniversity, they issued this
(06:18):
challenge coin and you can seeit, it's the statement thief.
It's the first ever one I had.
So tonight, before I get intoit, one of the things that
happened at that MoonshineUniversity which was very, very,
very kind of cool to me, it waswe had been doing the podcast
(06:41):
for a little bit.
Supernatural had become a part,young Nose, and we did a
podcast on Old Forrester, andOld Forrester is known for a
banana note, but it's also knownfor a pepper note that's in it,
and so Old Forrester is hit andmiss for me.
Now a lot of their different,the different, you know, aspects
(07:03):
, old forester in differentthey're different.
I love their presidential batch, I love their 117 series and
there's a, you know, and thenthe 1910 20, all the 24s, all
that plus then there's their umsingle barrel program.
This one here is a barrelstrength one.
Some of them are, you know,some of them are proofed so down
(07:24):
.
Some of them are barrelstrength one, some of them are,
you know, some of them areproofed down, some of them are
barrel strength, you know, itjust depends.
And so me, even the anniversaryblend, and that's something we
did, and if it's got the pepperynote I'm pretty much out.
But if it's got the banana noteI'm pretty much in Old
Forrester 100.
(07:44):
It's not even bottled in bondbut it's just Old Forrester 100
off the shelf you can walk in.
The banana note's fantasticusually on that and I love it.
Now this one here I picked uplast year at the Kentucky
Bourbon Festival, which I'mlooking forward to what's going
to be there again.
But it's the 117 series.
Super Nash got me some samplesof this but I never had my own
(08:05):
bottle and this was called highangel share and uh, I was so
glad to get it and it's soperfectly banana vanilla ice
cream that it's just it's 110proof.
Um, it says due to heat-cycledwarehousing in our unique
(08:35):
maturation environment.
I'm just getting it.
Occasionally the angels chooseparticular barrels from which
they take more than their fairshare.
This whiskey is a small batchof these flavorful few which
(08:56):
developed unique concentratedprofile due to the higher than
average evaporation loss.
So there you go.
I mean I'm going to tell youguys, I had my glasses on and
I'm still.
This shows that it's evengetting too bad.
(09:16):
But look at that print.
I don't know what to tell you.
That's a tough one right there.
This is riveting.
Thanks, randy, I'm glad thatyou knew.
So I'm going to basicallythat's what I'm going to be
sipping on, the last little bitof this angel share.
You guys, that's a bottle killright there.
So put it up.
(09:38):
I'll just put it there.
I bet you it'll fall over.
Nope, I won't put it there,I'll put it back over on the
shelf back here.
That one I'm going to keep.
So the reason why I'm doing thatis because at the Moonshine
University there was a thingwhere they did a blind tasting
and I had, on the podcast, donethe Old Forester and it was all
(10:01):
over the place.
I think I had the Old Forester100, it was all over the place.
I think I had the Old Forester100, the second best that I
thought.
And then there was ananniversary, one of the three
anniversary releases.
That was first.
But then I think I had 1910,1920.
And then I had the Old Forestersingle barrels as the next one,
(10:22):
and the last one was the other150th in last place.
So it was all over the board.
But when he had us blind tastethis, he didn't tell us the
brand, he didn't tell us what itwas.
We started the blind tastingand I was able to pick out the
banana flavor right away.
So I knew it was Old Forrester,but there was three glasses in
(10:47):
front of us and I basicallyblurred out and got in trouble.
But I blurted out that was 86proof, 100 proof and single
barrel barrel proof.
And he got mad at me because Iblurted it out, but in the end I
was right.
So I always remember thatfondly because I was the only
(11:13):
one in the class that did it andI was in a class with all the
people from Luca Mariano I wasthere with Kenny and, I believe,
jen and then they also hadtheir marketing whatever and so
out of actual people who weregoing into distilling, I was
able to, and at that point Ifelt like, well, maybe I can be
(11:35):
good at the tasting part.
You know, at first, when youfirst start and you're a
beginner, you're not exactlysure.
So that's kind of like whathappened.
So cheers to that.
That's what I'm sipping onright now before we get into the
challenge coins.
There's so many different kinds.
(11:55):
When you look online there'smany, but what we're going to do
first is I'm going to share thescreen.
Let's see if I can get this towork.
I've been doing this and I evenknow share.
Let's see the challenge cointradition.
All right, here we go, share.
All right, there we go.
So I'm going to quick read fromthis all right, so it says it's
(12:22):
got a couple channels.
You guys can see that.
If you've been in the militaryor work for the Defense
Department, you know what achallenge coin is.
They've been an Americanmilitary tradition for a century
, meant to instill unit, pride,improve spirit, a spirit, decor
and reward hard work andexcellence.
The coins represent anythingfrom a small unit to the office
(12:46):
of top leaders such as thedefense secretary.
I would like to get one ofthose from the current defense
secretary.
There are also coins made fromspecial events, anniversaries
and even non-military leaders.
Many service members andveterans proudly display
challenge coins at their desktopor home, showing off the many
missions they've been on, thetop leaders they've met and the
(13:10):
units for which they've worked.
But how did this tradition getstarted?
I was curious, so I checked inthe National Defense University,
pentagon librarians andhistorians, as well as those
with the US Army Center ofMilitary History and the Naval
History and Heritage Command.
Those institutions couldn'tfind any written record,
probably because the challengecoin tradition didn't start as
(13:32):
an official, sanctioned activity.
So I dove into the modern-dayoral histories of the world,
also known as the Internet, tosee what I could find.
That's funny.
Let's get that off, okay.
The most common assumption, themost well-known story that the
internet produced, linked thechallenge coin tradition back to
(13:55):
World War I.
As the US started building upits army air service, many men
volunteered to serve.
One of those men was a wealthylieutenant who wanted to give
each member of his unit amemento, so he ordered several
coin-sized bronze medallions tobe made.
The lieutenant put his ownmedallion in a small leather
pouch that he wore around hisneck.
A short time later, his planewas shot down over Germany.
(14:17):
He survived but was captured bya German patrol who took all of
his identical items, so hewould have no way to identify
himself if he escaped.
What they didn't take was thesmall pouch with the medallion.
The lieutenant was taken to asmall town near the front lines
of the war.
Despite his lack of ID, hemanaged to find some civilian
(14:37):
clothing and escaped anyways,eventually stumbling into a
French outpost Worry of anyonenot in uniform.
The French soldier didn'trecognize his accent and
immediately assumed he was anenemy.
They initially planned toexecute him since they couldn't
ID him.
But the lieutenant, rememberinghe still had the small pouch
(14:59):
around his neck, pulled out thecoin to show the soldiers his
unit insignia.
One of the Frenchmen recognizedthat insignia, so he was spared
.
Instead of being executed, thelieutenant was given a bottle of
wine, probably as a formalreparation for his initial
treatment.
When he finally made it back tohis squadron it became a
tradition for all servicemembers to carry a unit
(15:20):
emblazoned coin at all times,just in case.
So not everyone believes that.
It seems a little far-fetchedthat he would forget he was
wearing it around his neck.
But that besides the point,while the story sounds cool, air
Force Historical ResearchAgency archivist Barry Spink
isn't buying it.
He said he'd been told in the1990s that the tradition started
(15:44):
in Vietnam when an armyinfantry run bar tried to keep
non-infantry men away by forcingoutsiders to buy drinks for the
whole bar If they couldn'tprove they had been in combat.
The proof started with enemybullets, then got a little out
of control with grenades,rockets and unexploded ordnance.
(16:04):
So a coin-sized item emblazonedwith the unit's insignia became
the accepted form of proof.
This tradition now is a coincheck, is known as a coin check
continues today, hence beingcalled a challenge coin.
One more possibility Spink alsosent me an article called
(16:27):
Coining a Tradition that wasprinted in the 1994 edition of
Soldiers Magazine.
It offered a similar version ofthe Vietnam story, the World
War I tale, and one other optionwhich dates back to the early
1960s.
A member of the 11th SpecialForces Group took old coins, had
them over-stamped with adifferent emblem, then presented
(16:47):
them to unit members.
According to Roxanne Merrick,curator of the John F Kennedy
Special Warfare Museum at FortBragg, north Carolina, a former
commander of the 10th SFG pickedup on the idea becoming the
first to mint a unit coin forthe US military unit.
(17:07):
The 10th group remained theonly army unit with its own coin
until the mid-1980s, merrittsaid, when an explosion took
place and everybody startedminting coins.
So if you've ever wondered howthe challenge coin came about,
you can take your pick of whichstory to believe.
Wondered how the challenge coincame about?
You can take your pick of whichstory to believe.
(17:27):
This was written by.
Let's see, is it written?
But let me give it uh startedby katie lang dod news that's
from october 17th.
So there we go on thatchallenge coin.
Let me quickly uh, stop theshare, all right.
So there you go.
(17:49):
From the military standpoint,that's kind of how the challenge
coin came about.
Cheers, randy, okay, so, wow,so that's that's even more
riveting.
I gave you three essence of warstories of how they came about.
(18:11):
It was just for identificationand these coins were just minted
.
They weren't just thrown outthere so anybody could fake it.
So if you had that on you now,this coin, this coin right here,
this is what really kind of gotme, because I belong to Bourbon
Real Talk.
(18:31):
Randy Sullivan runs that and hedoes a lot of good.
His brother committed suicideand he runs a suicide nonprofit
to really help people who aredepressed.
I mean, he really cares.
He takes it to another level.
But he gave out a challenge.
(18:52):
I didn't even have any idea.
I post the podcast in there andI'm, and then I answer all the
people who comment Plus, I do um, I.
I post, as everybody knows, Ido um reels and put the reels in
there.
I post, as everybody knows, Ido reels and put the reels in
there, and then I put some of myreally kind of the cooler
bourbon.
I don't try and overdo it inthere, considering we're there,
(19:17):
but I noticed on Facebook that Iwas considered a top
contributor.
A top contributor you get thaton Facebook and that happened a
couple of times.
So I got a call from theFacebook message from the
Bourbon Real Talk team and sheasked me for my address.
(19:41):
So this came all of a sudden.
This coin comes and you can seeit right there.
Let's do it to both the cameras.
Unbelievable it was.
I'm going to I'll have a littlebit more on that.
You can see that bourbon realtalk community a really kind of
cool thing based off of the backsays top contributor and
(20:09):
produced.
So this works and I'll showthat to you guys on YouTube
right there and you can see theback.
Really kind of a cool coin.
So it came with this letterDear Challenge Coin recipient.
So this is another fartCongratulations.
You now are in possession ofwhat money cannot buy.
You have earned a topcontributor bourbon real talk
(20:30):
challenge coin for contributingenough to the group that just
doesn't work and forcontributing enough to the group
to make the top contributorlist.
These coins will never be soldand will always be free of
charge to the holder as a rewardfor helping to make the
community great.
A challenge coin was once theonly form of identification for
(20:53):
a war pilot down behind enemylines to prove his identity
before he was executed by alliedforces who would have otherwise
believed he was a spy.
His squadron made a game out ofkeeping the coin on you at all
times.
If you were seen in public afollow, a fellow coin holder
could challenge you to presentit.
If you could not, you had tobuy the challenger a drink.
(21:15):
Conversely, if he challenged ifthe challenge person had their
coin and this is a little bitdifferent um, the challenger had
to buy them a drink.
This is because not having thecoin could be a matter of life
and death.
We at BRT Bourbon Real Talk arenot that serious, although we
(21:36):
hope you play the drink game,but we do hope you keep the coin
on you.
We will ask that, if you losethe coin, to let us know.
It goes without saying.
But please guard this coin, donot give it to anyone else and
do not sell it.
Our hope is that you willdisplay this coin as a badge of
honor.
Your contributions is in facthonorable, so show it off, use
(22:01):
it as a Glen Topper and includeit in all your photos.
We love to see the announcementposts in Bourbon Real Talk
Community, but ask that theannouncement posts not be made
in.
Feel free to post pictures inthe group with the coin in view,
and they are not object of thepost.
You should be proud to be thecontributor.
Lastly, always remember that ifyou woke up this morning and
(22:23):
you were unsure if anyone lovedyou, just know we love you
sincerely.
Now that is cool as far as agroup goes and to be able to get
that and that's what we'redoing.
I'm thinking of doing somethinglike that and I do have an
Randy is an expert on gettingcoins made, so that's something
I was going to talk to him about.
So this bourbon real talk.
(22:43):
Now the next thing is is.
So that kind of gets into theetiquette aspect, and so we're
going to do the share thingagain.
I will share that and I'll hitshare and I should be able to
change it over to the challengecoin etiquette the rules of the
(23:03):
game.
So challenge coins have a richhistory that some dates back to
the elite flying squadron ofworld war one.
Their use during that timemight have been minimal, but the
concept took off during thevietnam war.
Challenge car coins are stillpopular today, while they often
(23:24):
associated with the military,other organizations give out
challenge coins too.
To an outsider, a challengecoin might look like nothing
more than a fancy collectible.
It's true that these coins arecollectible items, but they're
also shrouded in real tradition.
Challenge coins indicatemembership in something
important and there are rulesthat govern them.
(23:46):
Playing the game by throwingdown challenge with a coin is
something in which every coinowner should be familiar.
All right, here we go.
So there, christian can makeyour challenge coins.
Challenge coin etiquette.
It's an honor to receive achallenge coin.
That is why it is important toknow the etiquette surrounding
these important mementos.
(24:06):
Challenge coin that is why itis important to know the
etiquette surrounding theseimportant mementos.
When you use a challenge cointhe right way, you're
contributing to a time-testedtradition that inspires
camaraderie and membership.
Here are the 12 essential rulesyou've got to follow if you want
to play the challenge coin game.
The number one rule the rulesof the game should be given or
explained to everyone given acoin.
(24:27):
It's rude to call out achallenge if you haven't broken
down the way it works ahead oftime.
Two coin must be carried at alltimes and challenge can be
called out anywhere and at anytime.
You can only take four steps inorder to reach your coin, so
it's got to be within four stepsof you.
(24:49):
At all times.
The challenger must clearlystate whether the challenge is
for one drink or a round ofdrinks.
Four if the person challengedfails to produce the coin, the
challenge must be honored andthe drinks must be purchased.
Each person can only bechallenged once.
Five if everyone who ischallenged manages to produce a
(25:13):
coin, the challenger is on thehook to buy the drinks.
Be careful who you challenge.
So in other words, if youchallenge someone, say it's a
round and they produce the coin,you're on the round.
Six never hand someone else acoin in response to a challenge.
Doing so is the same as givingthe person the coin.
(25:35):
The coin can be placed on thetable and anyone who wants to
examine it, anyone that wants toexamine it is honored bound to
return to its original location.
So you got to put it down onthe table, otherwise you can't
hand it to somebody because itbecomes theirs.
Not that anybody would knowthat, but there you go.
(25:56):
You risk that.
Seven if you lose your coin,you're responsible to replace it
as soon as possible, as as youpossibly can.
Losing your coin doesn'tabsolve you from the
responsibility to follow therules of the game.
In other words, you're buying alot of drinks if you lose it.
Eight, there are zeroexceptions to these rules.
They apply whether you'rewearing clothes or not.
(26:19):
So think ahead.
Remember you've got four stepsto get within arm's reach of
your coin.
Nine a challenge coin is a coin.
It's not a belt buckle or abracelet or a necklace, so don't
use it like one.
The exception is for coins thatare carried in a pouch around
the neck.
Ten you must control your coinat all times.
(26:40):
It indicates honor, so youshouldn't give it to just anyone
.
11, you may not drill holes inyour coin.
And 12, these rules apply toanyone worthy to be given a coin
, anyone who knows to own a coin, anyone who's known to own a
(27:01):
coin and anyone who buys a coin.
So there you go.
So there's the 12 issues, andcome over here, share.
I'm back.
Obviously, ct's not there.
So those are the 12 issues ofthe coin.
So you know, I will say that I'dlike, for as far as I don't
(27:22):
know, as far as I don't know, Iwould like for the coins from
the Kentucky Bourbon Festival tohave.
I think we need to have somesort of challenge.
I don't know, I would thinkyou'd think hard, but what's
really cool is, every year thatI've gone to the festival, I've
(27:45):
gotten a coin.
What's really cool is, everyyear that I've gone to the
festival, I've gotten a coin.
And I've got right here the30th, which was I believe the
30th was 22, was it or was it 21?
I want to say yeah, that was 22.
And then here is the 23, whichwas really cool because I love
(28:09):
the way the the challenge coinyou got, actually with your,
with your um vip, you got twochallenge coins so that you
could display it front and back.
So that was really cool.
Now, randy was talking about2025.
I don't have that yet, but thenext time I see him I'm going to
try and get it.
(28:29):
I mean, I got a Bitcoin or two.
The one guy says he's got aBitcoin.
Just picked up Jack Daniels.
Okay, so some people aretalking about what they're doing
, but then this was last year'sthe 2024, which I thought was a
really nice improvement.
With the american flag, youcould see the kentucky bourbon
festival and then on the backit's gold instead of bronze like
(28:53):
it had been.
Now.
That was the kentucky bourbonfestival once.
Um, I'm thinking of doing achallenge coin, but I have to
think about how to make itdifferent from the rest.
So we've talked about thebourbon real talk one, but now
let's talk about this one whichis I've got my stave and thief
(29:15):
hat on, I'm part of it says abourbon stewart.
This one, um, amongst,especially when you're down in,
I want to say Kentucky, you haveto have this with you.
Now, everybody has to have acertain thing, but this one I've
(29:39):
been challenged multiple times.
Super Nash has one, because wegot it together.
El Presidente has one, anybodywho's been through the program.
This is a, and this one feelslike a club.
Now, bourbon Real Talk I knowsome people in it, but I don't
know a lot of people who havechallenge coins.
So it's kind of like I got tofigure that out and I was a
(30:01):
contributor, a top contributor,where there's other different
ones, for there's all differentlevels and we'll get into that
in a second.
But this one, I really feelthat this badge I'm proud of and
then I've earned it and I'vewas able to really accomplish
something as far as knowledge ofhow you get to when you did.
(30:24):
When you go through through it,you go through the distilling
process, you go through and yougot to take a test and out of
the test I got 99 out of 100.
Now, each one, there was 50questions but one of the
questions.
So that means if you got onewrong you would have had 98, and
(30:44):
I got one wrong.
But I got it half right.
There was two answers thatshould have been two and I only
had put down one.
So 99 out of 100 was what I goton that test.
So I was very proud of this andhave used this the most.
Now one of the cool things iswhen you carry it.
You have to figure out howyou're going to carry it.
(31:04):
You just can't put this in yourpocket.
You know like it's going to hityour keys, it's going to get
beat up.
So I got myself this awesomepersonal wallet.
Now there's a lot of stuff init.
It fits my credit cards,everything.
It's got a little pouch righthere for my tagger and my cards.
(31:26):
But it's got this zipper pouch.
And when I saw the zipper pouchon this one, it just fits so
beautifully right into thiszipper pouch and then I put that
one in.
I've got the bourbon real talkone and then I pick one of the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival totake on me.
(31:47):
So I always have one on me atall times.
So this little zipper pouchzips up.
Now that's kind of cool.
But then not only does thathappen, but this has a nice
little button to flatten it outand then when you finish off,
you got the two buttons to keepit secure in there.
So if anybody asks me, I've gotit with me at all times because
(32:11):
I'm always with my wallet.
So that's really a cool kind ofthing.
So the last part and I got onemore last share.
We'll share the screen andwe'll get into the club and how
they do it.
I read the first part aboutwhat you want to do as far as
being proud of that, but thenI've got I'm pretty sure this is
(32:34):
it Share.
Yep, I got one more here to go.
This is the bourbon real talkchallenge coins and it's about
the challenge.
They've got different colors,okay, so really quick.
You may have noticed posts thatinclude a challenge coin that
has this group's logo and mantraon it.
(32:55):
This post is to explain thecoin and explain how one earns a
coin.
This is rule number one explainhow it works.
I hope it encourages you to getengaged and start to help this
community push forward itsagenda to connect people
together through bourbon.
One time I accidentally joined aMexican cigar game Gang.
I thought this was hilarious.
(33:15):
I was at a cigar fundraiser andknew almost no one.
I walked past a table with somecool looking guys and there was
a real WWE wrestling belt onthe table that said El
Presidente.
I hope you're still listening,randy.
There was a WWE wrestling beltthat said El Presidente.
(33:35):
I was curious so I asked whatWTF is that?
The guy said that's my belt formy cigar club.
I'm El Presidente.
I said that's my belt for mycigar club, I'm El Presidente.
We made fast friends and heended up handing me a challenge
coin that signified he acceptedme as a member of his club.
I said what happens now?
(33:56):
He said you call me in themiddle of the night and I show
up with a shovel.
He said basically, it didsomething to me psychologically.
I realized I wanted to dosomething similar, but not to
connect people to my podcast orcommunity.
I wanted it to connect them tothe mission.
(34:20):
As a result, lindsay designedthis challenge coin.
With help from Wes Lindsay.
Challenge coin.
With help from Wes Lindsay hadcoins made and we are now giving
them to our individuals who dosomething that connects people.
The coins are not for sale.
You must earn the coin.
They are not transferable.
They will always be given freeof charge to the individual who
(34:40):
exhibits that they are anofficial force for good by
helping people get connectedthrough bourbon.
Official force for good byhelping people get connected
through bourbon.
There are five different coins.
The black coin is the coin youget the first time you do
something kind in the community.
The red and the blue and thewhite coins are for higher level
coins, but they are notpublicly disclosed what the
(35:00):
recipient did to earn thesecoins.
We do not want to set up asystem of payment or for kind
acts, but instead hope thatpeople look for opportunities to
give without expectations, sothat the coin is a reward and
not a payment.
The green coin is a littledifferent.
Instead of saying officialforce for good, it says top
(35:22):
contributor.
Facebook tracks how much youare contributing to the
community through posts,comments and reactions.
Without engaging content.
This community would be notvery fun.
So we believe our topcontributors deserve recognition
.
This is the first time someonemakes the top contributor list.
They will get a green coin.
(35:42):
If you want a coin, get engagedand start giving up the
community.
Thank you giving to thecommunity.
We are watching and don't besurprised if a coin shows up in
the mail.
If someone has done somethingyou believe is worthy of a coin,
use the below link to nominatethem.
This spirit of the coindictates that an individual be
humble to deserve, so theylikely would not point out the
(36:06):
kind act on their own.
It will take the communityreporting kind acts for us to
collect the names of all thosein the community that are coin
worthy.
The act does not have to havebeen in the bourbon real talk.
Any worthy act should berewarded.
(36:27):
If you have already received acoin, we hope it motivates you
to continue to look foropportunities to be an official
force for good.
And who knows, there may besomething higher, higher level
coins in the future.
So that's really kind of cool.
Um, let's get off of that now.
And um, there you go, share.
Uh, sounds like that.
(36:47):
We need a post show with Randyand Randy and Stacy.
Anyways, that's kind of cool, Ireally.
I mean, it really comes down tothe coin.
This coin I'm proud of, you'reproud to get a coin.
Same thing with KentuckyBourbon Festival, especially if
(37:12):
Randy gives you the coin orstates you know that they're
there but it promotes thefestival.
But at the same time, you know,I think we should come up with
a reason like this for the coinyou know there might be.
You could give out coins to thepeople who promote it, the
(37:33):
workers who worked hard.
You could have so manydifferent coin levels, but
that's just something to thinkabout.
Same thing with the ScotchyBourbon Boys.
There's a lot of people whohelp out.
I don't know how big we are,but that is a very, in my
opinion, that's a very cool wayto reward people.
I mean, it's not cheap.
You know this little, this,this not cheap.
(37:54):
It's a really cool coin and Idisplay my Kentucky Bourbon
Festival coins and I also carrythe, the, the other two coins
with me.
So, uh, does anybody have anyquestions on these challenge
coins?
I, I, I think I covered it.
I think you got the history,you got the etiquette.
(38:16):
I really believe, randy andanybody else, I like the fact
that if they have their coinyou're buying.
That adds into camaraderie.
It adds into a lot of stuff andI think that's really cool.
And you have to sometimespreface.
Um, you know you have topreface whether you're buying
(38:40):
the whole bar around or you'rebuying the person around.
Now, if you're pretty sure theperson doesn't have their coin,
you might do the bar thing, uh,but as far as that goes, um
crazy.
So.
So I've got this 117 AngelShare finish.
I told you all that when I gotthis coin from the Stave and
(39:02):
Thief executive, bourbon Stewart, I was able to.
That was the first time Ireally felt like I kind of was
learning what I needed to do.
But on this one, 17 angel share, the banana it's like a vanilla
wafer with the banana on it.
It smells so good.
(39:23):
110 proof, hmm, anyways,anyways.
But just a program reminder thatwe will be live on Thursday
with El Presidente of theScotchie Bourbon Boys, the Randy
(39:49):
Prass, the president ofKentucky Bourbon Festival, and
he will be talking about all thechanges that have happened this
year, all the things that aregoing to what you need to know.
In the past we didn't have theactive questions.
So on Thursday night, if you'recoming to the festival or you
want to know something about thefestival, all the questions
(40:10):
will be answered.
He has dealt with us and we'vedone this podcast.
I believe the first time thatwe did this podcast would have
been September, I want to say of2020.
That was the first time that wedid this podcast.
Uh, we went down and during thetime and we met with randy, uh,
(40:35):
and the festival had beenphysically canceled, and we did
a podcast right from our airbnb.
We went down even though we thefestival was canceled.
We went down as a podcast groupand podcasted throughout, uh,
the area with all the differentdistilleries, and it's become a
tradition ever since.
(40:56):
In 2021, we are one of a couplepodcasts.
At the time, randy was puttingup our social media row.
We were there and we've beenthere, uh, pretty much.
This will be our our in person21, 22, 23, 24.
(41:19):
This will be our fifth one inperson and our sixth with randy,
so we've evolved with him andwe actually went, uh, before we
were a group.
It's the reason why we became apodcast was the 2019 Kentucky
Bourbon Festival and had a greattime.
So, uh, walker said on thereabout coins, he being in the
(41:43):
military.
He said I don't know why that,yeah, here we go in the military
.
Usually it boils down to whohas a coin on their person or
who has the coin from thehighest-ranked person secretary
of defense, chief of staff ofthe Army or a general.
Okay, that's kind of cool.
Did not know that, but withKentucky Bourbon Festival in
(42:06):
September just around the cornerand the tickets will be going
on sale April 16thth for thepre-sale and april 17th to the
general public uh, randy's gonnabe here and he will.
It just made sense to have himcome in and do the podcast on
the 10th so you, he can answerall your questions.
All right, everybody.
(42:27):
Um, fantastic podcast.
Uh, anybody on youtube andfacebook, you can hang around
for a little bit longer.
I am about to.
Um, I'm going to end thispodcast on the audio.
We'll get this finished andthen, once I do that, uh, we can
talk a little bit on Facebookand YouTube.
Uh, if you have any questionsabout challenge coins or bourbon
(42:49):
, either way, I'm not uh worriedabout it.
Uh, it's been a kind of a coolI.
I it's like kind of likeresearch.
I did research.
I think I was pretty preparedfor this podcast.
I was planning to do it myself.
Ct was thinking of coming in,but, uh, we miss him.
I know super nash is gettingready to go on a cruise so he
(43:12):
won't be with us for a while,but I look forward to having El
Presidente on with us onThursday night.
So make sure that you hangaround Thursday night.
But everybody on Facebook,youtube, stay.
But I'm going to end this rightnow for the Scotch oh, one of
the other things.
And this right now for theScotch oh, one of the other
(43:32):
things.
We have been, having beenchallenged on the copyright of
Little Steve-O singing theAlabama song, which is show me
the way to the next whiskey bar,and I have been fighting every
single challenge and winningthem all.
So there you go, we fight forwhat's right, and I initially
loved the Alabama song by theDoors Jim Morrison does a
(43:53):
spectacular thing but I wasgetting hit by Facebook and
YouTube for copyright every timeI used it.
So Little Steve-O said I cancome up with something.
He came up with something.
You're about to hear it beforewe go out and it's fantastic and
I'm so glad here.
If you're in the Canton area,the Akron area, you got to go
(44:14):
see him.
He's all around the area.
You look up little Steve-O, butwe see him on Sunday nights at
Gervasi.
I think he's going to be herethis next Sunday night, but he's
also.
We've gone and seen him at somany different places,
everywhere between Cleveland andCanton and Akron.
He does a great job, supertalented musician.
(44:34):
So you want to check that out?
Let's go, all right.
Thank you everybody for comingtonight.
It seemed to be a fun, chattypodcast with everybody leaving
comments, but I'll just say itum, wwwscotchybourbonboyscom.
(44:59):
For all things scotchy bourbonboys, glenn's t-shirts.
Make sure you check that out.
Uh, you can contact me direct.
Uh, we have, uh, our williamdalton and our Lee Sinclair
barrel pick.
If you're interested, give me acall.
This is now gold medal winningfrom the New Orleans Bourbon
(45:19):
Festival.
It's the last single barrelthat Alan picked out, helped us
pick out of the Spirit of FrenchLick, and so you know, check
that out.
And then also, remember we'reon all the social media Facebook
, instagram, youtube and X,hopefully TikTok.
I'm just waiting for that dealto go through.
(45:40):
Once it's American owned, we'llsee.
I'll get back on TikTok.
And then also all the majorpodcasts for X, youtube, iheart
and um, apple, spotify.
So check us out on all thosepodcasts or whatever way you
listen or however way you watchus.
Remember like, listen, comment,subscribe and leave good
(46:03):
feedback.
Remember good bourbon equalsgood times and good friends.
Remember don't drink and drive.
Drink responsibly and live yourlife uncut and unfiltered, and
little Steve-O will take us out.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar, oh go.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Oh, let's try that again, oh go.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar.
Oh, don't ask why.
Oh don't ask why.
Show me the way to the nextwhiskey bar.
Oh, don't ask why.
Oh don't ask why.
For if we don't find why, ohdon't ask why.
(47:14):
For if we don't find the nextwhiskey bar, I tell you we must
die.
I tell you we must die.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die.
Middle West Spirits was founded in 2008, focusing on
elevating the distinct flavorsof the Ohio River Valley.
Their spirits honor their rootsand reflect their originality
as makers, their integrity asproducers, and their the start
to the bottle, to your glass,with unique weeded and rye
(00:28):
bourbons, and also rye and wheatwhiskeys.
The Michelon brand is easy tosip.
It might be a grain-to-glassexperience, but I like to think
of it as uncut and unfilteredfrom their family to yours.
What, all right?
(00:52):
We'll be right back all right,welcome back to another podcast
(02:04):
of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys.
Tiny here tonight I might beswitching the camera for YouTube
.
It's just me on Facebook,obviously, because I got set up
two microphones and CT said hewas going to do everything he
possibly could to come to youknow, make it here tonight.
But obviously he might join usa little bit later.
(02:26):
But tonight's podcast is aboutchallenge coins and I have a
bunch of them here, a couplehere.
I got it all.
I'm going to go into thehistory of it.
So CT hasn't come, but we'vegot El Presidente.
On Randy Prass, who will be onon Thursday night, I want to
(02:47):
tell everybody everything thatyou need to know about this
year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
If you have questions, randy'sgoing to be there, we're going
to do it.
But also he has issued manycoins.
Now I don't think they'reactually they're not.
The challenge doesn't go withthem.
But I was thinking that youknow us people who attend the
(03:09):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
We might come up with achallenge for the coin for the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival.
But there's other coins andfestival or other things that I,
you know, coins that I havethat I use the challenge.
I've learned a lot about it too.
So tonight I will be going overthe history, I will go over the
etiquette and then also someother specific things about the
(03:32):
challenge coin that I just gotand the different ways clubs can
do it and whatnot.
But I will go through that.
But rememberwwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for
all things scotchie bourbon boysuh, we've got glenn's.
We've got t-shirts.
This scotchie bourbon boys,glenn karens, talk to me.
(03:52):
You know you're interested inone.
Let me know, I will ship it toyou direct.
Same thing with t-shirts.
I mean, who doesn't want this?
I mean I, I love the sc ScotchyBourbon Boys t-shirts and I
just buried the microphone thereand so check that out.
You can check it out on thewebsite or contact me direct
Facebook, youtube.
Just let me know and I will getyou hooked up with that.
(04:15):
All right, we are also on allthe social media.
We're on Facebook, instagram,youtube and X, and then we're
also on all the major podcastformats Apple, iheart, spotify,
anyone that you listen to.
We're there.
But just remember, no matterwhere you listen or watch, make
sure you comment, like,subscribe, leave good feedback.
(04:40):
We greatly appreciate all thatyou guys do and we are
monitoring on YouTube andFacebook the comments tonight.
That's great.
Let's see, we've got AlonzoMartinez from Texas and he's
asked me why do I do what I do?
I do it because I just love thepeople, all the people, and the
(05:04):
friends that I've made throughthe whiskeys and the bourbons.
It just keeps you going andit's something to do.
It's something I want to doonce I'm done with my nine to
five job.
So there you go.
There's the question off ofYouTube tonight and that gets us
going.
That's going to get us going,us going.
That's going to get us going.
First off, the first everchallenge coin I got before I
(05:35):
even knew me and SuperNashcompleted the Moonshine
University's Staven ThiefBourbon Steward program.
And there was two there was anexecutive bourbon, there was a
bourbon steward and an executivebourbon steward.
The first time that we did it,we did it with Macaulay Minton
and Patrick Heiss at WildernessTrail.
They had a special one that wedid when we're down for the
(05:56):
Kentucky Bourbon Festival, met alot of people, but we did that
one and you get a little pin mypins upstairs in a hat because,
anyways, this way I won't loseit.
And then, after you finish theexecutive bourbon steward class,
which is at MoonshineUniversity, they issued this
(06:18):
challenge coin and you can seeit, it's the statement thief.
It's the first ever one I had.
So tonight, before I get intoit, one of the things that
happened at that MoonshineUniversity which was very, very,
very kind of cool to me, it waswe had been doing the podcast
(06:41):
for a little bit.
Supernatural had become a part,young Nose, and we did a
podcast on Old Forrester, andOld Forrester is known for a
banana note, but it's also knownfor a pepper note that's in it,
and so Old Forrester is hit andmiss for me.
Now a lot of their different,the different, you know, aspects
(07:03):
, old forester in differentthey're different.
I love their presidential batch, I love their 117 series and
there's a, you know, and thenthe 1910 20, all the 24s, all
that plus then there's their umsingle barrel program.
This one here is a barrelstrength one.
Some of them are, you know,some of them are proofed so down
(07:24):
.
Some of them are barrelstrength one, some of them are,
you know, some of them areproofed down, some of them are
barrel strength, you know, itjust depends.
And so me, even the anniversaryblend, and that's something we
did, and if it's got the pepperynote I'm pretty much out.
But if it's got the banana noteI'm pretty much in Old
Forrester 100.
(07:44):
It's not even bottled in bondbut it's just Old Forrester 100
off the shelf you can walk in.
The banana note's fantasticusually on that and I love it.
Now this one here I picked uplast year at the Kentucky
Bourbon Festival, which I'mlooking forward to what's going
to be there again.
But it's the 117 series.
Super Nash got me some samplesof this but I never had my own
(08:05):
bottle and this was called highangel share and uh, I was so
glad to get it and it's soperfectly banana vanilla ice
cream that it's just it's 110proof.
Um, it says due to heat-cycledwarehousing in our unique
(08:35):
maturation environment.
I'm just getting it.
Occasionally the angels chooseparticular barrels from which
they take more than their fairshare.
This whiskey is a small batchof these flavorful few which
(08:56):
developed unique concentratedprofile due to the higher than
average evaporation loss.
So there you go.
I mean I'm going to tell youguys, I had my glasses on and
I'm still.
This shows that it's evengetting too bad.
(09:16):
But look at that print.
I don't know what to tell you.
That's a tough one right there.
This is riveting.
Thanks, randy, I'm glad thatyou knew.
So I'm going to basicallythat's what I'm going to be
sipping on, the last little bitof this angel share.
You guys, that's a bottle killright there.
So put it up.
(09:38):
I'll just put it there.
I bet you it'll fall over.
Nope, I won't put it there,I'll put it back over on the
shelf back here.
That one I'm going to keep.
So the reason why I'm doing thatis because at the Moonshine
University there was a thingwhere they did a blind tasting
and I had, on the podcast, donethe Old Forester and it was all
(10:01):
over the place.
I think I had the Old Forester100, it was all over the place.
I think I had the Old Forester100, the second best that I
thought.
And then there was ananniversary, one of the three
anniversary releases.
That was first.
But then I think I had 1910,1920.
And then I had the Old Forestersingle barrels as the next one,
(10:22):
and the last one was the other150th in last place.
So it was all over the board.
But when he had us blind tastethis, he didn't tell us the
brand, he didn't tell us what itwas.
We started the blind tastingand I was able to pick out the
banana flavor right away.
So I knew it was Old Forrester,but there was three glasses in
(10:47):
front of us and I basicallyblurred out and got in trouble.
But I blurted out that was 86proof, 100 proof and single
barrel barrel proof.
And he got mad at me because Iblurted it out, but in the end I
was right.
So I always remember thatfondly because I was the only
(11:13):
one in the class that did it andI was in a class with all the
people from Luca Mariano I wasthere with Kenny and, I believe,
jen and then they also hadtheir marketing whatever and so
out of actual people who weregoing into distilling, I was
able to, and at that point Ifelt like, well, maybe I can be
(11:35):
good at the tasting part.
You know, at first, when youfirst start and you're a
beginner, you're not exactlysure.
So that's kind of like whathappened.
So cheers to that.
That's what I'm sipping onright now before we get into the
challenge coins.
There's so many different kinds.
(11:55):
When you look online there'smany, but what we're going to do
first is I'm going to share thescreen.
Let's see if I can get this towork.
I've been doing this and I evenknow share.
Let's see the challenge cointradition.
All right, here we go, share.
All right, there we go.
So I'm going to quick read fromthis all right, so it says it's
(12:22):
got a couple channels.
You guys can see that.
If you've been in the militaryor work for the Defense
Department, you know what achallenge coin is.
They've been an Americanmilitary tradition for a century
, meant to instill unit, pride,improve spirit, a spirit, decor
and reward hard work andexcellence.
The coins represent anythingfrom a small unit to the office
(12:46):
of top leaders such as thedefense secretary.
I would like to get one ofthose from the current defense
secretary.
There are also coins made fromspecial events, anniversaries
and even non-military leaders.
Many service members andveterans proudly display
challenge coins at their desktopor home, showing off the many
missions they've been on, thetop leaders they've met and the
(13:10):
units for which they've worked.
But how did this tradition getstarted?
I was curious, so I checked inthe National Defense University,
pentagon librarians andhistorians, as well as those
with the US Army Center ofMilitary History and the Naval
History and Heritage Command.
Those institutions couldn'tfind any written record,
probably because the challengecoin tradition didn't start as
(13:32):
an official, sanctioned activity.
So I dove into the modern-dayoral histories of the world,
also known as the Internet, tosee what I could find.
That's funny.
Let's get that off, okay.
The most common assumption, themost well-known story that the
internet produced, linked thechallenge coin tradition back to
(13:55):
World War I.
As the US started building upits army air service, many men
volunteered to serve.
One of those men was a wealthylieutenant who wanted to give
each member of his unit amemento, so he ordered several
coin-sized bronze medallions tobe made.
The lieutenant put his ownmedallion in a small leather
pouch that he wore around hisneck.
A short time later, his planewas shot down over Germany.
(14:17):
He survived but was captured bya German patrol who took all of
his identical items, so hewould have no way to identify
himself if he escaped.
What they didn't take was thesmall pouch with the medallion.
The lieutenant was taken to asmall town near the front lines
of the war.
Despite his lack of ID, hemanaged to find some civilian
(14:37):
clothing and escaped anyways,eventually stumbling into a
French outpost Worry of anyonenot in uniform.
The French soldier didn'trecognize his accent and
immediately assumed he was anenemy.
They initially planned toexecute him since they couldn't
ID him.
But the lieutenant, rememberinghe still had the small pouch
(14:59):
around his neck, pulled out thecoin to show the soldiers his
unit insignia.
One of the Frenchmen recognizedthat insignia, so he was spared
.
Instead of being executed, thelieutenant was given a bottle of
wine, probably as a formalreparation for his initial
treatment.
When he finally made it back tohis squadron it became a
tradition for all servicemembers to carry a unit
(15:20):
emblazoned coin at all times,just in case.
So not everyone believes that.
It seems a little far-fetchedthat he would forget he was
wearing it around his neck.
But that besides the point,while the story sounds cool, air
Force Historical ResearchAgency archivist Barry Spink
isn't buying it.
He said he'd been told in the1990s that the tradition started
(15:44):
in Vietnam when an armyinfantry run bar tried to keep
non-infantry men away by forcingoutsiders to buy drinks for the
whole bar If they couldn'tprove they had been in combat.
The proof started with enemybullets, then got a little out
of control with grenades,rockets and unexploded ordnance.
(16:04):
So a coin-sized item emblazonedwith the unit's insignia became
the accepted form of proof.
This tradition now is a coincheck, is known as a coin check
continues today, hence beingcalled a challenge coin.
One more possibility Spink alsosent me an article called
(16:27):
Coining a Tradition that wasprinted in the 1994 edition of
Soldiers Magazine.
It offered a similar version ofthe Vietnam story, the World
War I tale, and one other optionwhich dates back to the early
1960s.
A member of the 11th SpecialForces Group took old coins, had
them over-stamped with adifferent emblem, then presented
(16:47):
them to unit members.
According to Roxanne Merrick,curator of the John F Kennedy
Special Warfare Museum at FortBragg, north Carolina, a former
commander of the 10th SFG pickedup on the idea becoming the
first to mint a unit coin forthe US military unit.
(17:07):
The 10th group remained theonly army unit with its own coin
until the mid-1980s, merrittsaid, when an explosion took
place and everybody startedminting coins.
So if you've ever wondered howthe challenge coin came about,
you can take your pick of whichstory to believe.
Wondered how the challenge coincame about?
You can take your pick of whichstory to believe.
(17:27):
This was written by.
Let's see, is it written?
But let me give it uh startedby katie lang dod news that's
from october 17th.
So there we go on thatchallenge coin.
Let me quickly uh, stop theshare, all right.
So there you go.
(17:49):
From the military standpoint,that's kind of how the challenge
coin came about.
Cheers, randy, okay, so, wow,so that's that's even more
riveting.
I gave you three essence of warstories of how they came about.
(18:11):
It was just for identificationand these coins were just minted
.
They weren't just thrown outthere so anybody could fake it.
So if you had that on you now,this coin, this coin right here,
this is what really kind of gotme, because I belong to Bourbon
Real Talk.
(18:31):
Randy Sullivan runs that and hedoes a lot of good.
His brother committed suicideand he runs a suicide nonprofit
to really help people who aredepressed.
I mean, he really cares.
He takes it to another level.
But he gave out a challenge.
(18:52):
I didn't even have any idea.
I post the podcast in there andI'm, and then I answer all the
people who comment Plus, I do um, I.
I post, as everybody knows, Ido um reels and put the reels in
there.
I post, as everybody knows, Ido reels and put the reels in
there, and then I put some of myreally kind of the cooler
bourbon.
I don't try and overdo it inthere, considering we're there,
(19:17):
but I noticed on Facebook that Iwas considered a top
contributor.
A top contributor you get thaton Facebook and that happened a
couple of times.
So I got a call from theFacebook message from the
Bourbon Real Talk team and sheasked me for my address.
(19:41):
So this came all of a sudden.
This coin comes and you can seeit right there.
Let's do it to both the cameras.
Unbelievable it was.
I'm going to I'll have a littlebit more on that.
You can see that bourbon realtalk community a really kind of
cool thing based off of the backsays top contributor and
(20:09):
produced.
So this works and I'll showthat to you guys on YouTube
right there and you can see theback.
Really kind of a cool coin.
So it came with this letterDear Challenge Coin recipient.
So this is another fartCongratulations.
You now are in possession ofwhat money cannot buy.
You have earned a topcontributor bourbon real talk
(20:30):
challenge coin for contributingenough to the group that just
doesn't work and forcontributing enough to the group
to make the top contributorlist.
These coins will never be soldand will always be free of
charge to the holder as a rewardfor helping to make the
community great.
A challenge coin was once theonly form of identification for
(20:53):
a war pilot down behind enemylines to prove his identity
before he was executed by alliedforces who would have otherwise
believed he was a spy.
His squadron made a game out ofkeeping the coin on you at all
times.
If you were seen in public afollow, a fellow coin holder
could challenge you to presentit.
If you could not, you had tobuy the challenger a drink.
(21:15):
Conversely, if he challenged ifthe challenge person had their
coin and this is a little bitdifferent um, the challenger had
to buy them a drink.
This is because not having thecoin could be a matter of life
and death.
We at BRT Bourbon Real Talk arenot that serious, although we
(21:36):
hope you play the drink game,but we do hope you keep the coin
on you.
We will ask that, if you losethe coin, to let us know.
It goes without saying.
But please guard this coin, donot give it to anyone else and
do not sell it.
Our hope is that you willdisplay this coin as a badge of
honor.
Your contributions is in facthonorable, so show it off, use
(22:01):
it as a Glen Topper and includeit in all your photos.
We love to see the announcementposts in Bourbon Real Talk
Community, but ask that theannouncement posts not be made
in.
Feel free to post pictures inthe group with the coin in view,
and they are not object of thepost.
You should be proud to be thecontributor.
Lastly, always remember that ifyou woke up this morning and
(22:23):
you were unsure if anyone lovedyou, just know we love you
sincerely.
Now that is cool as far as agroup goes and to be able to get
that and that's what we'redoing.
I'm thinking of doing somethinglike that and I do have an
Randy is an expert on gettingcoins made, so that's something
I was going to talk to him about.
So this bourbon real talk.
(22:43):
Now the next thing is is.
So that kind of gets into theetiquette aspect, and so we're
going to do the share thingagain.
I will share that and I'll hitshare and I should be able to
change it over to the challengecoin etiquette the rules of the
(23:03):
game.
So challenge coins have a richhistory that some dates back to
the elite flying squadron ofworld war one.
Their use during that timemight have been minimal, but the
concept took off during thevietnam war.
Challenge car coins are stillpopular today, while they often
(23:24):
associated with the military,other organizations give out
challenge coins too.
To an outsider, a challengecoin might look like nothing
more than a fancy collectible.
It's true that these coins arecollectible items, but they're
also shrouded in real tradition.
Challenge coins indicatemembership in something
important and there are rulesthat govern them.
(23:46):
Playing the game by throwingdown challenge with a coin is
something in which every coinowner should be familiar.
All right, here we go.
So there, christian can makeyour challenge coins.
Challenge coin etiquette.
It's an honor to receive achallenge coin.
That is why it is important toknow the etiquette surrounding
these important mementos.
(24:06):
Challenge coin that is why itis important to know the
etiquette surrounding theseimportant mementos.
When you use a challenge cointhe right way, you're
contributing to a time-testedtradition that inspires
camaraderie and membership.
Here are the 12 essential rulesyou've got to follow if you want
to play the challenge coin game.
The number one rule the rulesof the game should be given or
explained to everyone given acoin.
(24:27):
It's rude to call out achallenge if you haven't broken
down the way it works ahead oftime.
Two coin must be carried at alltimes and challenge can be
called out anywhere and at anytime.
You can only take four steps inorder to reach your coin, so
it's got to be within four stepsof you.
(24:49):
At all times.
The challenger must clearlystate whether the challenge is
for one drink or a round ofdrinks.
Four if the person challengedfails to produce the coin, the
challenge must be honored andthe drinks must be purchased.
Each person can only bechallenged once.
Five if everyone who ischallenged manages to produce a
(25:13):
coin, the challenger is on thehook to buy the drinks.
Be careful who you challenge.
So in other words, if youchallenge someone, say it's a
round and they produce the coin,you're on the round.
Six never hand someone else acoin in response to a challenge.
Doing so is the same as givingthe person the coin.
(25:35):
The coin can be placed on thetable and anyone who wants to
examine it, anyone that wants toexamine it is honored bound to
return to its original location.
So you got to put it down onthe table, otherwise you can't
hand it to somebody because itbecomes theirs.
Not that anybody would knowthat, but there you go.
(25:56):
You risk that.
Seven if you lose your coin,you're responsible to replace it
as soon as possible, as as youpossibly can.
Losing your coin doesn'tabsolve you from the
responsibility to follow therules of the game.
In other words, you're buying alot of drinks if you lose it.
Eight, there are zeroexceptions to these rules.
They apply whether you'rewearing clothes or not.
(26:19):
So think ahead.
Remember you've got four stepsto get within arm's reach of
your coin.
Nine a challenge coin is a coin.
It's not a belt buckle or abracelet or a necklace, so don't
use it like one.
The exception is for coins thatare carried in a pouch around
the neck.
Ten you must control your coinat all times.
(26:40):
It indicates honor, so youshouldn't give it to just anyone
.
11, you may not drill holes inyour coin.
And 12, these rules apply toanyone worthy to be given a coin
, anyone who knows to own a coin, anyone who's known to own a
(27:01):
coin and anyone who buys a coin.
So there you go.
So there's the 12 issues, andcome over here, share.
I'm back.
Obviously, ct's not there.
So those are the 12 issues ofthe coin.
So you know, I will say that I'dlike, for as far as I don't
(27:22):
know, as far as I don't know, Iwould like for the coins from
the Kentucky Bourbon Festival tohave.
I think we need to have somesort of challenge.
I don't know, I would thinkyou'd think hard, but what's
really cool is, every year thatI've gone to the festival, I've
(27:45):
gotten a coin.
What's really cool is, everyyear that I've gone to the
festival, I've gotten a coin.
And I've got right here the30th, which was I believe the
30th was 22, was it or was it 21?
I want to say yeah, that was 22.
And then here is the 23, whichwas really cool because I love
(28:09):
the way the the challenge coinyou got, actually with your,
with your um vip, you got twochallenge coins so that you
could display it front and back.
So that was really cool.
Now, randy was talking about2025.
I don't have that yet, but thenext time I see him I'm going to
try and get it.
(28:29):
I mean, I got a Bitcoin or two.
The one guy says he's got aBitcoin.
Just picked up Jack Daniels.
Okay, so some people aretalking about what they're doing
, but then this was last year'sthe 2024, which I thought was a
really nice improvement.
With the american flag, youcould see the kentucky bourbon
festival and then on the backit's gold instead of bronze like
(28:53):
it had been.
Now.
That was the kentucky bourbonfestival once.
Um, I'm thinking of doing achallenge coin, but I have to
think about how to make itdifferent from the rest.
So we've talked about thebourbon real talk one, but now
let's talk about this one whichis I've got my stave and thief
(29:15):
hat on, I'm part of it says abourbon stewart.
This one, um, amongst,especially when you're down in,
I want to say Kentucky, you haveto have this with you.
Now, everybody has to have acertain thing, but this one I've
(29:39):
been challenged multiple times.
Super Nash has one, because wegot it together.
El Presidente has one, anybodywho's been through the program.
This is a, and this one feelslike a club.
Now, bourbon Real Talk I knowsome people in it, but I don't
know a lot of people who havechallenge coins.
So it's kind of like I got tofigure that out and I was a
(30:01):
contributor, a top contributor,where there's other different
ones, for there's all differentlevels and we'll get into that
in a second.
But this one, I really feelthat this badge I'm proud of and
then I've earned it and I'vewas able to really accomplish
something as far as knowledge ofhow you get to when you did.
(30:24):
When you go through through it,you go through the distilling
process, you go through and yougot to take a test and out of
the test I got 99 out of 100.
Now, each one, there was 50questions but one of the
questions.
So that means if you got onewrong you would have had 98, and
(30:44):
I got one wrong.
But I got it half right.
There was two answers thatshould have been two and I only
had put down one.
So 99 out of 100 was what I goton that test.
So I was very proud of this andhave used this the most.
Now one of the cool things iswhen you carry it.
You have to figure out howyou're going to carry it.
(31:04):
You just can't put this in yourpocket.
You know like it's going to hityour keys, it's going to get
beat up.
So I got myself this awesomepersonal wallet.
Now there's a lot of stuff init.
It fits my credit cards,everything.
It's got a little pouch righthere for my tagger and my cards.
(31:26):
But it's got this zipper pouch.
And when I saw the zipper pouchon this one, it just fits so
beautifully right into thiszipper pouch and then I put that
one in.
I've got the bourbon real talkone and then I pick one of the
Kentucky Bourbon Festival totake on me.
(31:47):
So I always have one on me atall times.
So this little zipper pouchzips up.
Now that's kind of cool.
But then not only does thathappen, but this has a nice
little button to flatten it outand then when you finish off,
you got the two buttons to keepit secure in there.
So if anybody asks me, I've gotit with me at all times because
(32:11):
I'm always with my wallet.
So that's really a cool kind ofthing.
So the last part and I got onemore last share.
We'll share the screen andwe'll get into the club and how
they do it.
I read the first part aboutwhat you want to do as far as
being proud of that, but thenI've got I'm pretty sure this is
(32:34):
it Share.
Yep, I got one more here to go.
This is the bourbon real talkchallenge coins and it's about
the challenge.
They've got different colors,okay, so really quick.
You may have noticed posts thatinclude a challenge coin that
has this group's logo and mantraon it.
(32:55):
This post is to explain thecoin and explain how one earns a
coin.
This is rule number one explainhow it works.
I hope it encourages you to getengaged and start to help this
community push forward itsagenda to connect people
together through bourbon.
One time I accidentally joined aMexican cigar game Gang.
I thought this was hilarious.
(33:15):
I was at a cigar fundraiser andknew almost no one.
I walked past a table with somecool looking guys and there was
a real WWE wrestling belt onthe table that said El
Presidente.
I hope you're still listening,randy.
There was a WWE wrestling beltthat said El Presidente.
(33:35):
I was curious so I asked whatWTF is that?
The guy said that's my belt formy cigar club.
I'm El Presidente.
I said that's my belt for mycigar club, I'm El Presidente.
We made fast friends and heended up handing me a challenge
coin that signified he acceptedme as a member of his club.
I said what happens now?
(33:56):
He said you call me in themiddle of the night and I show
up with a shovel.
He said basically, it didsomething to me psychologically.
I realized I wanted to dosomething similar, but not to
connect people to my podcast orcommunity.
I wanted it to connect them tothe mission.
(34:20):
As a result, lindsay designedthis challenge coin.
With help from Wes Lindsay.
Challenge coin.
With help from Wes Lindsay hadcoins made and we are now giving
them to our individuals who dosomething that connects people.
The coins are not for sale.
You must earn the coin.
They are not transferable.
They will always be given freeof charge to the individual who
(34:40):
exhibits that they are anofficial force for good by
helping people get connectedthrough bourbon.
Official force for good byhelping people get connected
through bourbon.
There are five different coins.
The black coin is the coin youget the first time you do
something kind in the community.
The red and the blue and thewhite coins are for higher level
coins, but they are notpublicly disclosed what the
(35:00):
recipient did to earn thesecoins.
We do not want to set up asystem of payment or for kind
acts, but instead hope thatpeople look for opportunities to
give without expectations, sothat the coin is a reward and
not a payment.
The green coin is a littledifferent.
Instead of saying officialforce for good, it says top
(35:22):
contributor.
Facebook tracks how much youare contributing to the
community through posts,comments and reactions.
Without engaging content.
This community would be notvery fun.
So we believe our topcontributors deserve recognition
.
This is the first time someonemakes the top contributor list.
They will get a green coin.
(35:42):
If you want a coin, get engagedand start giving up the
community.
Thank you giving to thecommunity.
We are watching and don't besurprised if a coin shows up in
the mail.
If someone has done somethingyou believe is worthy of a coin,
use the below link to nominatethem.
This spirit of the coindictates that an individual be
humble to deserve, so theylikely would not point out the
(36:06):
kind act on their own.
It will take the communityreporting kind acts for us to
collect the names of all thosein the community that are coin
worthy.
The act does not have to havebeen in the bourbon real talk.
Any worthy act should berewarded.
(36:27):
If you have already received acoin, we hope it motivates you
to continue to look foropportunities to be an official
force for good.
And who knows, there may besomething higher, higher level
coins in the future.
So that's really kind of cool.
Um, let's get off of that now.
And um, there you go, share.
Uh, sounds like that.
(36:47):
We need a post show with Randyand Randy and Stacy.
Anyways, that's kind of cool, Ireally.
I mean, it really comes down tothe coin.
This coin I'm proud of, you'reproud to get a coin.
Same thing with KentuckyBourbon Festival, especially if
(37:12):
Randy gives you the coin orstates you know that they're
there but it promotes thefestival.
But at the same time, you know,I think we should come up with
a reason like this for the coinyou know there might be.
You could give out coins to thepeople who promote it, the
(37:33):
workers who worked hard.
You could have so manydifferent coin levels, but
that's just something to thinkabout.
Same thing with the ScotchyBourbon Boys.
There's a lot of people whohelp out.
I don't know how big we are,but that is a very, in my
opinion, that's a very cool wayto reward people.
I mean, it's not cheap.
You know this little, this,this not cheap.
(37:54):
It's a really cool coin and Idisplay my Kentucky Bourbon
Festival coins and I also carrythe, the, the other two coins
with me.
So, uh, does anybody have anyquestions on these challenge
coins?
I, I, I think I covered it.
I think you got the history,you got the etiquette.
(38:16):
I really believe, randy andanybody else, I like the fact
that if they have their coinyou're buying.
That adds into camaraderie.
It adds into a lot of stuff andI think that's really cool.
And you have to sometimespreface.
Um, you know you have topreface whether you're buying
(38:40):
the whole bar around or you'rebuying the person around.
Now, if you're pretty sure theperson doesn't have their coin,
you might do the bar thing, uh,but as far as that goes, um
crazy.
So.
So I've got this 117 AngelShare finish.
I told you all that when I gotthis coin from the Stave and
(39:02):
Thief executive, bourbon Stewart, I was able to.
That was the first time Ireally felt like I kind of was
learning what I needed to do.
But on this one, 17 angel share, the banana it's like a vanilla
wafer with the banana on it.
It smells so good.
(39:23):
110 proof, hmm, anyways,anyways.
But just a program reminder thatwe will be live on Thursday
with El Presidente of theScotchie Bourbon Boys, the Randy
(39:49):
Prass, the president ofKentucky Bourbon Festival, and
he will be talking about all thechanges that have happened this
year, all the things that aregoing to what you need to know.
In the past we didn't have theactive questions.
So on Thursday night, if you'recoming to the festival or you
want to know something about thefestival, all the questions
(40:10):
will be answered.
He has dealt with us and we'vedone this podcast.
I believe the first time thatwe did this podcast would have
been September, I want to say of2020.
That was the first time that wedid this podcast.
Uh, we went down and during thetime and we met with randy, uh,
(40:35):
and the festival had beenphysically canceled, and we did
a podcast right from our airbnb.
We went down even though we thefestival was canceled.
We went down as a podcast groupand podcasted throughout, uh,
the area with all the differentdistilleries, and it's become a
tradition ever since.
(40:56):
In 2021, we are one of a couplepodcasts.
At the time, randy was puttingup our social media row.
We were there and we've beenthere, uh, pretty much.
This will be our our in person21, 22, 23, 24.
(41:19):
This will be our fifth one inperson and our sixth with randy,
so we've evolved with him andwe actually went, uh, before we
were a group.
It's the reason why we became apodcast was the 2019 Kentucky
Bourbon Festival and had a greattime.
So, uh, walker said on thereabout coins, he being in the
(41:43):
military.
He said I don't know why that,yeah, here we go in the military
.
Usually it boils down to whohas a coin on their person or
who has the coin from thehighest-ranked person secretary
of defense, chief of staff ofthe Army or a general.
Okay, that's kind of cool.
Did not know that, but withKentucky Bourbon Festival in
(42:06):
September just around the cornerand the tickets will be going
on sale April 16thth for thepre-sale and april 17th to the
general public uh, randy's gonnabe here and he will.
It just made sense to have himcome in and do the podcast on
the 10th so you, he can answerall your questions.
All right, everybody.
(42:27):
Um, fantastic podcast.
Uh, anybody on youtube andfacebook, you can hang around
for a little bit longer.
I am about to.
Um, I'm going to end thispodcast on the audio.
We'll get this finished andthen, once I do that, uh, we can
talk a little bit on Facebookand YouTube.
Uh, if you have any questionsabout challenge coins or bourbon
(42:49):
, either way, I'm not uh worriedabout it.
Uh, it's been a kind of a coolI.
I it's like kind of likeresearch.
I did research.
I think I was pretty preparedfor this podcast.
I was planning to do it myself.
Ct was thinking of coming in,but, uh, we miss him.
I know super nash is gettingready to go on a cruise so he
(43:12):
won't be with us for a while,but I look forward to having El
Presidente on with us onThursday night.
So make sure that you hangaround Thursday night.
But everybody on Facebook,youtube, stay.
But I'm going to end this rightnow for the Scotch oh, one of
the other things.
And this right now for theScotch oh, one of the other
(43:32):
things.
We have been, having beenchallenged on the copyright of
Little Steve-O singing theAlabama song, which is show me
the way to the next whiskey bar,and I have been fighting every
single challenge and winningthem all.
So there you go, we fight forwhat's right, and I initially
loved the Alabama song by theDoors Jim Morrison does a
(43:53):
spectacular thing but I wasgetting hit by Facebook and
YouTube for copyright every timeI used it.
So Little Steve-O said I cancome up with something.
He came up with something.
You're about to hear it beforewe go out and it's fantastic and
I'm so glad here.
If you're in the Canton area,the Akron area, you got to go
(44:14):
see him.
He's all around the area.
You look up little Steve-O, butwe see him on Sunday nights at
Gervasi.
I think he's going to be herethis next Sunday night, but he's
also.
We've gone and seen him at somany different places,
everywhere between Cleveland andCanton and Akron.
He does a great job, supertalented musician.
(44:34):
So you want to check that out?
Let's go, all right.
Thank you everybody for comingtonight.
It seemed to be a fun, chattypodcast with everybody leaving
comments, but I'll just say itum, wwwscotchybourbonboyscom.
(44:59):
For all things scotchy bourbonboys, glenn's t-shirts.
Make sure you check that out.
Uh, you can contact me direct.
Uh, we have, uh, our williamdalton and our Lee Sinclair
barrel pick.
If you're interested, give me acall.
This is now gold medal winningfrom the New Orleans Bourbon
(45:19):
Festival.
It's the last single barrelthat Alan picked out, helped us
pick out of the Spirit of FrenchLick, and so you know, check
that out.
And then also, remember we'reon all the social media Facebook
, instagram, youtube and X,hopefully TikTok.
I'm just waiting for that dealto go through.
(45:40):
Once it's American owned, we'llsee.
I'll get back on TikTok.
And then also all the majorpodcasts for X, youtube, iheart
and um, apple, spotify.
So check us out on all thosepodcasts or whatever way you
listen or however way you watchus.
Remember like, listen, comment,subscribe and leave good
(46:03):
feedback.
Remember good bourbon equalsgood times and good friends.
Remember don't drink and drive.
Drink responsibly and live yourlife uncut and unfiltered, and
little Steve-O will take us out.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar, oh go.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Oh, let's try that again, oh go.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar.
Oh, don't ask why.
Oh don't ask why.
Show me the way to the nextwhiskey bar.
Oh, don't ask why.
Oh don't ask why.
For if we don't find why, ohdon't ask why.
(47:14):
For if we don't find the nextwhiskey bar, I tell you we must
die.
I tell you we must die.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die.
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